Paul Heckingbottom match reaction as Preston North End progress

The PNE gaffer reacts after an eventful afternoon.

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Paul Heckingbottom has reacted after his Preston North End side won 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town.

Captain Lewis Gibson received a red card on 21 minutes for a professional foul on Ashley Fletcher, before Radino Balker opened the scoring on 37 minutes after a bullet header from a Lasse Sorensen free kick.

New signings and substitutes Jusef Erabi and Delano Burgzorg had a huge impact on their debuts, with Burgzorg teeing up PNE’s new number nine with just seconds left to play. A tense shootout ended 4-3 to PNE after some heroic moments from Daniel Iversen, with Burgzorg scoring the crucial penalty.

Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire post-match: “I think how everything's panned out in the end, bar having Lewis missing the next game, probably good. I would have never picked this if you said ‘what's the perfect afternoon for you’, but in a strange way, I think the sending off allowed us to get more out of the game.

“Again, we're coming to a different venue. and it still felt like pre-season... I'm not a fan. It's difficult when you're a player, even [in] a cup game.

“Huddersfield, when they set up in a block and were going to counter on us, I would have rather had a more tenacious, up-tempo game and probably the sending off turned it into that for us, because we've become sort of the underdogs, or we have to fight harder for everything that we get out of it.

“In the end, to have had to dig in for so long with 10 men... second half much, much better, and show a lot of qualities that we need to show in the Championship, and then to get through to the next round is good.”

Heckingbottom admitted he hadn’t looked back at the Gibson red before speaking to the media but gave his view on some of the new rules in the game, and how the decision affected PNE’s shape.

“I've honestly not watched it back, I try not to before I come and speak to you guys because I don't think there's anything gained by it.

“But they all went against us, the decisions today, whether they were right or wrong. The big ones.

“That's sometimes how it goes. The response was good. Listen, it's difficult now with the new rules.

“You're thinking all the time because you could be down to ten men for a minute at any point now with an injury, physio on, a goalkeeper, whatever happens, a substitution. So, we wouldn't have gone 4-3-2.

“We would have gone 5-3-1 if it had been us making the choice. So, to have something thrown on us… I didn't want to go 5-3-1 for the full game because there's no way of getting back out of that. So, we stayed with the 4-3-2 but we needed half-time to sort it out.

“We were okay in it but once we got to half-time, we could organise ourselves better without the ball but then, probably more importantly, come up with a plan of how we were going to make them have to defend as well, which was much better.”

On Erabi and Burgzorg’s impact, the North End boss added: “Yeah, brilliant. It's important, especially, I think, for front men, to endear yourself to the fans, score goals. We're happy with their additions to add to Langy.

“Langy feels like a new player who's great for us today. Milutin, we know all about his threat. So, for Della to get the shot, I thought it was Della’s goal until I'd been shown it and Yusef to tap it in, fantastic and then for them both to score the penalty and Della the winning one, it's a good start for those two.”